Sekino Atop A New Wave From The Orient

June 22, 1985|by JEFF CORY, The Morning Call

Imagine this: You're a surfer from Japan and you're visiting America for the first time. After a few days of practice off the sunny shores of California, you head east for your first competition in the United States.

Destination Palm Beach? Try again. Atlantic City? Nope. Your next stop is Dorney Park's Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown, a city as landlocked as can be. Welcome to inland surfing, a phenomenon as American as indoor soccer, artificial turf, and the Ritz mock apple pie.

If the scenario sounds like fiction, just talk to 20-year-old Satoshi Sekino, who will vouch for all of the above and more.

Sekino is currently tied for fifth in the world after last month's Marui Pro Niijima in Japan, the first competition of the international surf season. Sekino's ranking is the highest ever attained by a native of Japan, a country as distinguished in the world of surfing as the Cleveland Indians are to the Major Leagues.

"There's never been a really successful Japanese surfer," said Ian Cairns, executive director of the Association of Surfing Professionals. "There's a number of them now who are good talents. The idea is for them to get a moderate level of success, which would then stimulate interest in surfing in Japan. Once one person in a country is successful, it creates a snowball effect."

That is exactly what happened in Australia during the 1960s, Cairns said, and since then an Australian has been world champion in 12 of the last 13 years.

"It'll probably be several years until we get a really successful contingent from Japan, but they've improved dramatically during the past few years," Cairns said. "The money's there - they have good sponsors - plus they have the ideal build." And a homeland with more than 16,000 miles of coastline.

One of the top surfers in Japan today is 24-year-old Shuji Kasuya, who finished 59th in the world last year, good for third among Japanese surfers. Kasuya said he is particularly interested in inland surfing.

"It's more difficult because the waves are not as powerful as in the ocean," he said with the help of Doji Isaka, director of the ASP circuit in Japan. "You can't do as sophisticated moves. If there were bigger and more stable waves, it'd be great."

Sekino, however, was a bit frustrated by the latest American sports innovation.

"The waves are not nearly as good, and you don't get as good a feeling from fresh water," he said. Floatation is not as good in fresh water as salt water.

"America's a beautiful place, but I don't like the American people and some of the feelings between Western people and Oriental people," said Sekino reflecting on his first impressions of the U.S.

He did have one good thing to say about surfing, American style, though.